1st Half 2026 Finance Industry Trends

1ST HALF 2026 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The largest deal in 1st Half 2026 was The Brink’s Company’s announced acquisition of NCR Atleos, a global fintech infrastructure company that has built the world’s leading retail ATM network, for $6.5 billion.

There were 53 financially sponsored transactions in 1st Half 2026, with an aggregate value of $4.7 billion, representing 22 percent of the total volume and 16 percent of the total value, respectively.

1ST HALF 2026 KEY TRENDS

Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2026 decreased by 9 percent over 2nd Half 2025, from 268 to 243.

In terms of acquirer type, strategic volume decreased 5 percent on a half year basis, from 199 to 190. Private equity volume fell 23 percent from 69 to 53.

Total transaction value in 1st Half 2026 decreased 29 percent over 2nd Half 2025, from $40.8 billion to $28.8 billion.

The median revenue multiple decreased from 4.4x in 2nd Half 2025 to 2.6x in 1st Half 2026.

M&A MARKET OVERVIEW

Berkery Noyes tracked 1,162 Financial Technology and Information transactions between 2024 and 1st Half 2026, of which 306 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $161.4 billion. Based on known transaction values, we project values of 856 undisclosed transactions to be $21.5 billion, totaling $182.9 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Transactions from 1st Half 2024 to 1st Half 2026 with enterprise values above $160 million had a median revenue multiple of 4.6x and those between $10-$160 million received a median revenue multiple of 2.2x.